Abstract

The rat renal brush border membrane sodium/phosphate co-transporter NaPi-2 was analysed in Western blots with polyclonal antibodies raised against its N-terminal and C-terminal segments. Under reducing conditions, proteins of 45–49 and 70–90 kDa (p45 and p70) were detected with N-terminal antibodies, and proteins of 40 and 70–90 kDa (p40 and p70) were detected with C-terminal antibodies. p40 and p45 apparently result from a post-translational cleavage of NaPi-2 but remain linked through one or more disulphide bonds. Glycosidase digestion showed that both polypeptides are glycosylated; the cleavage site could thus be located between Asn-298 and Asn-328, which have been shown to constitute the only two N-glycosylated residues in NaPi-2. In the absence of reducing agents, both N-terminal and C-terminal antibodies detected p70 and a protein of 180 kDa (p180), suggesting the presence of p70 dimers. Much higher concentrations of β-mercaptoethanol were required to produce a given effect in intact membrane vesicles than in solubilized proteins, indicating that the affected disulphide bonds are not exposed at the surface of the co-transporter. Phosphate transport activity decreased with increasing concentrations of reducing agents [β-mercaptoethanol, dithiothreitol and tris-(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine] and was linearly correlated with the amount of p180 detected. The target sizes estimated from the radiation-induced loss of intensity of p40, p70 and p180 were all approx. 190 kDa, suggesting that NaPi-2 exists as an oligomeric protein in which the subunits are sufficiently close to one another to allow substantial energy transfer between the monomers. When protein samples were pretreated with β-mercaptoethanol [2.5% and 5% (v/v) to optimize the detection of p40 and p70] before irradiation, target sizes estimated from the radiation-induced loss of intensity of p40 and p70 were 74 and 92 kDa respectively, showing the presence of disulphide bridges in the molecular structure of NaPi-2.